Occult Principles of
Health and Healing

by

Max Heindel

As Probationers in various places have banded
themselves together to study Astro-Diagnosis and Astro-Therapy with a view to
forming Healing Centers when they shall have become sufficiently grounded in
these sciences, it may be well to give a few suggestions for the conduct of such
centers.

In the first place we must remember that
whatever is to be done is for Christ's sake, and devotional exercises at the
commencement of classes are an absolute necessity in order to balance the
intellectual side of the work. Let us remember that the Christ is now imprisoned
in the earth for our sake, bearing the heavy burden of the earth so that we may
have proper conditions for our evolution; that disease is the result of
ignorance of cosmic laws, hence a retarding factor in evolution and therefore a
cause of prolongation of the Christ's imprisonment; and that when we alleviate
human suffering we are at the same time decreasing the suffering of Christ and
hastening the day of His liberation.

Devotional exercises are a powerful means of
putting us in tune with the Christ. Through them we gain an intuitional faculty
whereby we feel the suffering of others, and at the same time we find the way to
ease their pain as Parsifal did the cause of Amfortas' suffering when he was in
the garden with Kundry and there realized how he might heal the stricken king.
So first and foremost, let us have devotional exercised, reading from the Bible
with reference to how Christ healed the sick and comforted the suffering.
Perhaps a few comments to drive home the lesson, would be well.

Take THE IMITATION OF CHRIST, by Thomas a
Kempis, or anything else of a thoroughly devotional nature, and then turn to the
study of the human body, for a knowledge of anatomy is an absolute essential.
The body is the temple for the indwelling Spirit, and as it is necessary for an
architect to know how to prop up the pillars of a church, when the wear and tear
of time have caused the foundation to crumble, so that new material may replace
that which has decayed to make the edifice strong and useful again, so also must
we know how to strengthen the various parts of the living temple with which we
are to deal. There is a book called THE STORY OF THE LIVING TEMPLE, by Rossiter,
which treats of the body in a spiritual manner and will service admirably as an
aid to a higher conception while using the ordinary textbooks.

When taking up a horoscope for analysis, be
sure you do not use the figures for Probationers attending the meetings, or
their close relatives. For just as students in a medical college often by
suggestion develop the symptoms of the diseases they are studying, so also
members of the class are apt to suffer from neglect of the above precaution.
Moreover, when a Probationer is ill and applies to the Center for healing, he or
she may not be admitted to the classes while in ill health, for it is absolutely
impossible to avoid accidental mention of symptoms from which such a one may
suffer, and thus the disease may be aggravated in this manner.

If letters of fire that would burn themselves
into the consciousness of the reader were obtainable, we would spare no effort
to procure them for the purpose of warning students on some particular points in
connection with the practice of Medical Astrology; these are:

Never tell a patient a discouraging fact.
Never tell him when impending crises are due.
Never predict sickness at a certain time.
Never, NEVER predict death.

It is a grave mistake, almost a crime, to
tell sick persons anything discouraging, for it robs them of strength that
should he husbanded with the utmost care to facilitate recovery. It is also
wrong to suggest sickness to a well person, for it focuses the mind on a
specific disease at a certain time, and such a suggestion is liable to cause
sickness. It is a well-known fact that many students in medical colleges feel
the symptoms of every disease they study, and suffer greatly in consequence of
autosuggestion, but the idea of impending disease implanted by one in whom the
victim has faith is much more dangerous. Therefore, it behooves the medical
astrologer to be very cautious. If you cannot say something encouraging, be
silent.

This warning applies with particular force
when treating patients having Taurus or Virgo rising or the Sun or Moon in those
signs. These positions predispose the mind to center on disease, often in a most
unwarranted manner. The Taurean fears sickness to an almost insane degree, and
prediction of disease is fatal to his nature. The Virgoans court disease, in
order to gain sympathy, and though professing to long for recovery, they
actually delight in probing the matter to the depths; they will plead ability to
stand full knowledge and profess that it will help them; but if the practitioner
allows himself to be enticed by their protestations, and does tell them, they
wilt like a flower. They are the most difficult people to help in any case, and
extra care should be taken not to aggravate their chances by admissions of the
nature indicated. Some students have a morbid desire to know the time of their
own death, and probe into this matter in a most unwarranted manner; but no
matter how they may seek to deceive themselves there are very few who have the
mental and moral stamina to live life in the same manner, if they knew with
absolute certainty that on a certain date their earthly existence would be
terminated. This is one of the points most wisely hidden until we are able to
see on both sides of the veil, and we do wrong, no matter what our ground, to
seek to wrest that knowledge from the horoscope.

In the past when our efforts in behalf of
the sick were necessarily restricted to members on account of lack of help in
the office the questions sometimes asked: "How may I help a sick
friend?" Though we are now prepared to render aid from Headquarters to
"whosoever will" some, it is important to impress upon probationers of
the great opportunity which is theirs by virtue of the connection they have
established with the Teacher. Healing is accomplished principally by
Probationers who "live the life" under direction of the Elder
Brothers; and application TO THEM, written with pen and ink, whether directed
through Headquarters or to a Probationer, invariably evokes a response.

The Elder Brothers know how to use the law
to the best advantage, but cannot work contrary to it nor do more than the
material furnished them admits, physical sickness may be overcome by spiritual
power, but a certain amount of this power is required. It is a law of physics
that a number of coals must be heaped together and sufficient oxygen furnished
in order to make a fire. Christ said, "Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there will I be among them."

Association of Probationers in Center of
Healing furnishes the material in which the Elder Brothers may kindle the
Spiritual Fire required to heal physical, moral, and mental ailments.
Single-handed there is small change of doing good, but in numbers there is
strength, particularly if all are fortified with a knowledge of diagnosis from
the horoscope and how to apply treatment at propitious times.

On Holy Night the spiritual power in the Sun
culminates, pouring out a benediction upon the air. From the 25th of December to
the 25th of June the physical activities are in the ascendant, gradually
gathering force which culminates at the Summer Solstice; and then blesses man
physically with the things needed for his material sustenance. During that time
the spiritual activities are difficult to inaugurate, and therefore we waited
quietly until the turn recently, holding the first evening healing service on
Tuesday, the 23rd of June (1914), at half past seven, when the Moon was in the
cardinal sign of Cancer. And in the future a healing service will be held in the
Pro-Ecclesia each week at that hour on a day when the Moon is in one of the
cardinal signs. We decided to have these services that we might utilize the
little Pro-Ecclesia to the very utmost, and thus earn the privilege of having
the Ecclesia, too. This was approved by the Teacher, and he suggested that the
healing service be held when the Moon is in the cardinal signs. But we want to
go a step further in our efforts to secure efficiency; and this is where we want
to add the help of every earnest student in The Rosicrucian Fellowship.

There is a passage in the ritual used at The
Rosicrucian Fellowship services which says: "One coal cannot make a fire,
but where a number of coals are gathered together the heat which is latent in
each may be kindled into a flame emitting light and warmth. It is in obedience
to the same law of Nature that we have gathered here tonight, that by massing
our spiritual aspirations we may light and keep ablaze the beacon light of true
spiritual fellowship." The power of numbers is insignificant in the world
of physical existence, compared with the power of the same number in the
spiritual realm. Here additions to the power of a community count as one, two,
three, four, etc., but there the power increases in a proportion that might be
likened to the square; two, four, eight, sixteen, etc., for the first twelve who
attend a spiritual service. The thirteenth then would bring it up into another
higher realm of the spiritual universe. For the sake of illustration, we may
count the increase there by the power of three, nine, twenty-seven, etc., as so
on. Thus you will see how important even the very weakest one among us may
become WHEN IT IS A QUESTION OF MASSING OUR SPIRITUAL ASPIRATIONS. Nor can there
by any questions of the powerful influence that will have on the sick.

To secure the help of all earnest students
and give them the privilege of helping, we will publish in the Echoes each month
the date on which the healing services will be held, and if each student will
sit down in his or her own home at half past seven, directing their thoughts to
Mt. Ecclesia, to the little Pro-Ecclesia, where the symbol of the Invisible
Helpers will then be unveiled, the love, sympathy, and strength thus given these
workers will enable them to do a much greater service for humanity; each one of
course them having part in that work. The symbol of the Invisible Helpers upon
which we concentrate at Mt. Ecclesia is a snow-white cross, with the seven red
roses and a pure white one in the center; the usual stars (the rays), goes out
from the cross, and the background is blue, the whole being beautifully
illuminated, thus making it an apt emblem of the effulgence of that soul body
wherein these workers travel. It will not be necessary to make corrections in
time for your place of residence, because the Sun will gather all the
aspirations as he goes along, and when the rays at the proper angle arrive at
Mt. Ecclesia the influence directed here will certainly transmit itself and
unite with our aspirations taking place at this time and help us in the work.
(NOTE: The time of this healing service has since been changed to half past
six.)

"THERE IS NO DEATH"

Amid all the uncertainties which are the
characteristics of this world, there is but one certainty--Death. At one time or
another, after a short or long life, comes this termination to the material
phase of our existence, which is a birth into a new world, as that which we term
"birth" is, in the beautiful words of Wordsworth, a forgetting of the
past.

Birth and death may therefore be regarded
has the shifting of man's activity from one world to another, and it depends
upon our own position whether we designate such a change birth or death. If he
enters the world in which we live, we call it birth; if he leaves our plane of
existence to enter another world, we call it death. To the individual concerned,
however, the passage from one world to another is but as a removal to another
city here; he LIVES, unchanged; only his exterior surroundings and condition are
changed.

The passage from one world to another is
often attended by more or less unconsciousness, like sleep, as Wordsworth says,
and for the reason our consciousness may be fixed upon the world we have left.
In infancy heaven lies about us in actual fact; children are all clairvoyant for
a longer or shorter time after birth, and whoever passes out at death still
beholds the material world for some time. If we pass out in the full vigor of
physical manhood or womanhood, with strong times of family, friends, or other
interests, the dense world will continue to attract our attention for a much
longer time than if death occurred at a "ripe old age," when the
earthy ties have been severed before the change we call death. This is on the
same principle that the seed clings to the flesh of unripe fruit, while it is
easily and cleanly detached from the ripe fruit. Therefore it is easier to die
at an advanced age than in youth.

The unconsciousness which usually attends
the change of the incoming spirit at birth, and the outgoing spirit at death, is
due to our inability to adjust our focus instantly, and is similar to the
difficulty we experience when passing from a darkened room to the street on a
light, sunny day, or vice versa. Under those conditions some time elapses before
we can distinguish objects about us; so with the newly born and the newly dead,
both have to readjust their viewpoint to their new condition.

When the moment arrives which marks the
completion of life in the physical world, the usefulness of the dense body has
ended, and the Ego withdraws from it by way of the head, taking with it the mind
and the desire body, as it does every night during sleep, but now the vital body
is useless, so that, too, is withdrawn, and when the silver cord which united
the higher to the lower vehicles snaps it can never be repaired.

We remember that the vital body is composed
of ether, superimposed upon the dense bodies of plant, animal, and man during
life. Ether is physical matter, and therefore has weight. The only reason why
the scientists cannot weigh it is because they are unable to gather a quantity
and put it on a scale. But when it leaves the dense body at death a diminution
in weight will take place in every instance, showing that something having
weight, yet invisible, leaves the dense body at that time.

Physical science knows that whatever the
power which moves the heart, it does not come from without, but is inside the
heart. The occult scientists sees a chamber in the left ventricle, near the
apex, where a little atom swims in a sea of the highest ether. The force in that
atom, like the forces of all other atoms, is THE UNDIFFERENTIATED LIFE OF GOD;
without that force the mineral could not form matter into crystals, the plant,
animal, and human kingdoms would be unable to form their bodies. The deeper we
go the plainer it becomes to us how fundamentally true it is that in God we
live, more, and have our being.

That atom is called the "seed
atom." The force within it moves the heart and keeps the organism alive.
All the other atoms in the whole body must vibrate in tune with this atom. The
forces of the seed-atom have been immanent in every dense body every possessed
by the particular Ego to whom it is attached, and upon its plastic tablet are
inscribed all the experiences of that particular Ego in all its lives. When we
return to God, when we shall have become one in God once more, that record,
which is peculiarity God's record, will still remain, and thus we shall retain
our individuality. Our experiences we transmute into faculties; the evil is
transmuted into good and the good we retain as power for higher good, but THE
RECORD of the experiences is OF God and IN God; in the most intimate sense.

The "silver cord" which unites the
higher and lower vehicles terminates at the seed atom in the heart. When
material life comes to an end in the natural manner the forces in the seed atom
disengage themselves, pass outward along the pneumogastric nerve, the back of
the head and along the silver cord, together with the higher vehicles. It is
this rupture in the heart which marks physical death, but the connecting silver
cord is not broken at once, in some cases not for several days.

When the Ego is coming down to rebirth it
descends through the Second Heaven. There it is helped by the Creative
Hierarchies to build an archetype for its coming body, and it instills into that
archetype a life that will last for a certain number of years. These archetypes
are hollow spaces and they have a singing, vibratory motion which draws the
material of the Physical World into them and sets all the atoms in the body
vibrating in tune with a little atom that is in the heart, called the seed-atom,
which, like a tuning fork, gives the pitch to all the rest of the material in
the body. At the time when the full life has been lived on the earth the
vibrations in the archetype cease, the seed-atom is withdrawn, the dense body
goes to decay and the desire body, wherein the Ego functions in Purgatory and in
the First Heaven, takes upon itself the shape of the physical body. Then the man
commences his work of expiating his evil habits and deeds in Purgatory and
assimilating the good of his life in the First Heaven.

The foregoing describes the ordinary
conditions when the course of nature is undisturbed, but the case of the suicide
is different. He has taken away the seed-atom, but the hollow archetype still
keeps on vibrating. Therefore he feels as if he were hollowed out and
experiences a gnawing feeling inside that can be best likened to the pangs of
intense hunger. Material for the building of a dense body is all around him, but
seeing that he lacks the gauge of the seed atom, it is impossible for him to
assimilate that matter and build it into a body. This dreadful hollowed- out
feeling lasts as long as his ordinary life should have lasted. Thus the Law of
Cause and Effect teaches him that it is wrong to play truant from the school of
life and that it cannot be done with impunity. Then in the next life, when
difficulties beset his path, he will remember the sufferings of the past which
resulted from suicide and go through the experience that makes for his soul
growth.

It is curious that the commission of suicide
in one life and the consequent post-mortem suffering during the time when the
archetype still exists often generate in such people a morbid fear of death tin
the next life; so that when the event actually occurs in the ordinary course of
life, they seem frantic after they leave the body and so anxious to get back to
the Physical World again that they frequently commit the crime of obsession in
the most foolish and unthinking manner.

When a man passes out a death, he takes with
him the mind, desire body, and vital body the latter being the storehouse of the
pictures of his past life. And during the three and one-half days following
death these pictures are etched into the desire body to form the basis of man's
life in Purgatory and the First Heaven where the evil is expurgated and the good
assimilated. The experience of the life itself is forgotten, as we have
forgotten the process of learning to write, but have retained the faculty. So
the cumulative extract of all his experiences, both during past earth lives and
past existences in Purgatory and the various heavens, are retained by the man
and form his stock in trade in the next birth. The pains he has sustained speak
to him as the voice of conscience, the good he had done gives him a more and
more altruistic character.

Now, when the three and a half days
immediately following death are spent by man under conditions of peace and
quiet, he is able to concentrate much more upon the etching of his past life and
the imprint upon the desire body will be deeper than if he is disturbed by the
hysterical lamentations of his relatives or from other causes. He will then
experience a much keener feeling for either good or bad in Purgatory and in the
First Heaven, and in after lives that keen feeling will speak to him with no
unmistakable voice; but where the lamentations of relatives take away his
attention or where a man passes out by accident, perhaps in a crowded street, in
a train wreck, theatre fire, or under other harrowing circumstances, there will,
of course, be no opportunity for him to concentrate properly; neither can he
concentrate on a battle field if he is slain there, and yet it would not be just
that he would lose the experience of his life on account of passing out in such
an untoward manner, so that the Law of Cause and Effect provides a compensation.

We usually think that when a child is born
it is born and that is an end to it; but as during the period of gestation the
dense body is shielded from the impact of the outside world by being placed
within the protecting womb of the mother until it has arrived at sufficient
maturity to meet the outside conditions, so are also the vital body, desire
body, and mind in a state of gestation and are born at later periods because
they have not had as long an evolution behind them as the dense body. Therefore,
it takes a longer time for them to arrive at a sufficient state of maturity to
become individualized. The vital body is born at the seventh year, when the
period of excessive growth marks its advent. The desire body is born at the time
of puberty, the fourteenth year, and the mind is born at twenty-one, when the
child is said to have become a man or woman.....to have reached majority.

That which has not been quickened cannot
die, and so when a child dies before the birth of the desire body it passes out
into the invisible world into the First Heaven. It cannot ascend into the Second
and Third Heaven because the mind and desire body are not born and will not die,
so it simply waits in the First Heaven until a new opportunity for embodiment
offers, and where it has died in its previous life under the before-mentioned
harrowing circumstances by accident or upon the battle field or where the
lamentations of relatives rendered it impossible for it to gain as deep an
impression of evil committed and the good accomplished as would have been the
case had it died in peace, it is instructed when it has died in the next life as
a child in the effects of passions and desires so that it learns the lessons
then which it should have learned in the purgatorial life had it remained
undisturbed. It is then reborn with the proper development of conscience so that
it may continue its evolution.

As in the past man has been exceedingly
warlike and not at all careful of the relatives who passed out at death because
of his ignorance, holding wakes over those who died in bed, which were few,
perhaps, compared to those who died on the battle field, there must necessarily
on that account be an enormous amount of infant mortality, but as humanity
arrives at a better understanding and realizes that we never so much our
brother's keeper as when he is passing out of this life and that we can help him
enormously by being quiet and prayerful, so also will infant mortality cease to
exist on such a large scale as at present.

The vital body is the vehicle of
sense-perception. As it remains with the body of feeling (the desire body) and
the etheric cord connects them with the discarded dense body, it will be evident
that until the cord is severed there must be a certain amount of feeling
experienced by the Ego when its dense body is molested. Thus, it causes pain
when the blood is extracted and embalming fluid injected, when the body is
opened for post-mortem examination, and when the body is cremated.

A case was told the writer in which a
surgeon amputated three toes from a living person under anesthetics. He threw
the severed toes into a bright coal fire, and immediately the patient commenced
to scream, for the rapid disintegration of the material toes caused an equally
rapid disintegration of the etheric toes, which were connected with the higher
vehicles. In like manner molestations affect the discarnate Spirit from a few
hours to three and a half days after death. Then all connection is severed and
the body begins to decay.

Therefore great care should be taken not to
cause the passing Spirit discomfort by such measures. Quiet and prayer are of
enormous benefit at that time, and if we love the departed Spirit wisely we
shall be able to earn its lasting gratitude by following the above instructions.

A word should be spoken in regard to the
treatment of dying persons who suffer unspeakable agony in many cases through
the mistaken kindness of friends. More suffering is caused by administering
stimulants to the dying than perhaps in any other way. It is not hard to pass
out of the body, but stimulants have the effect of throwing the departing Ego
back into its body with the force of a catapult, to experience anew the
sufferings from which it was just escaping. Departing souls have often
complained to investigators, and one such person said that he had not suffered
as much in all his life as he did while kept from dying for many hours. The only
rational way is to leave Nature to take its course when it is seen that the end
is inevitable.

Another and more far-reaching sin against
the passing Spirit is to give vent to loud crying or lamentation in or near the
death chamber. Just subsequent to its release and from a few hours to a few days
afterwards, the Ego is engaged upon a matter of the utmost importance; a great
deal of the value of the past life depends upon the attention given to it by the
passing Spirit. If distracted by the sobs and lamentations of loved ones, it
will lose much, but if strengthened by prayer and helped by silence, much future
sorrow to all concerned may be avoided. We are never so much our brother's
keeper as when he is passing through this Gethsemane, and it is one of our
greatest opportunities for serving him and laying up heavenly treasure for
ourselves.

We have studied the phenomenon of birth, and
have evolved a SCIENCE OF BIRTH. We have qualified obstetricians and trained
nurses to minister in the best possible manner to both mother and child to make
them comfortable, but we are sadly, very sadly, in need of a SCIENCE OF DEATH.
When a child is coming into the world we bustle about in an intelligent
endeavor; when a lifelong friend is about to leave us we stand helplessly about,
ignorant of how to aid; worse than all, we bungle, and cause suffering instead
of helping.

We have stated that the vital body is the
storehouse of both the conscience and subconscious memory; upon the vital body
is branded indelibly every act and experience of the past life, as the scenery
upon an exposed photographic plate. When the Ego has withdrawn it from the dense
body, the whole life, as registered by the subconscious memory, is laid open to
the eye of the mind. It is the partial loosening of the vital body which causes
a drowning person to see his whole past life, but then it is only like a flash,
preceding unconsciousness; the silver cord remains intact, or there could be no
resuscitation. In the case of a Spirit passing out at death, the movement is
slower; the man stands as a spectator while the pictures succeed one another
from death to birth, so that he sees the first happenings just prior to death
then the years of manhood and womanhood unroll themselves; youth, childhood and
infancy follow, until it terminates at birth. The man, however, has no feeling
about them at that time, the object is merely to etch the panorama into the
desire body, which is the seat of feeling, and from that impress the feeling
will be realized when the Ego enters the Desire World, but we may note there
that THE INTENSITY OF FEELING REALIZED DEPENDS UPON THE LENGTH OF TIME CONSUMED
IN THE PROCESS OF ETCHING, AND THE ATTENTION GIVEN THERETO BY THE MAN. IF HE WAS
UNDISTURBED FOR A LONG PERIOD, A DEEP CLEAR-CUT IMPRESS WILL BE MADE UPON THE
DESIRE BODY. HE WILL FEEL THE WRONG HE DID MORE KEENLY IN PURGATORY, AND BE MORE
ABUNDANTLY STRENGTHENED IN HIS GOOD QUALITIES IN HEAVEN, and though the
experience will be lost in a future life, THE FEELINGS WILL REMAIN, as the
"still small voice." Where the feelings have been strongly indented
upon the desire body of an Ego, this voice will speak in no vague and uncertain
terms. It will impel him beyond gainsaying, forcing him to desist from that
which caused him pain in the life before and compel him to yield to that which
is good. Therefore the panorama passed BACKWARDS, so that the Ego sees first the
effects, and then the underlying causes.

When the body is buried, the vital body
disintegrates slowly at the same time as the dense body, so that when, for
instance, an arm has decayed in the grave, the etheric arm of the vital body
which hovers over the grave also disappears, and so on until the last vestige of
the body is gone. But where cremation is performed the vital body disintegrates
at once, and as that is the storehouse of the pictures of the past life, which
are being etched upon the desire body to form the basis of life in Purgatory and
the First Heaven, this would be a great calamity where cremation is performed
before the three and a half days are passed. Unless help were given, the passing
Spirit could not hold it together. And that is part of the work that is done by
the Invisible Helpers for humanity. Sometimes they are assisted by nature
spirits and others detailed by the Creative Hierarchies or leaders of humanity.
There is also a loss where one is cremated before the silver cord has been
broken naturally, the imprint upon the desire body is never as deep as it would
otherwise have been, and this has an effect upon future lives, for the deeper
the imprint of the last life upon the desire body, the keener the sufferings in
Purgatory for the ill committed and the keener also the pleasure in the First
Heaven which results from the good deeds of the last life. It is these pains and
pleasures of our past lives that are what we call conscience, so that where we
have lost in suffering we lose also the realization of wrong which is to deter
us in future lives from committing the same mistakes again. Therefore, the
effects of the premature cremation are very far reaching.

As to what determines the length of the
panorama, we remember that it was the collapse of the vital body which forced
the higher vehicles to withdraw, so after death, when the vital body collapses,
the Ego has to withdraw, and thus the panorama comes to an end. The duration of
the panorama depends, therefore, upon the time the person could remain awake if
necessary. Some people can remain awake only a few hours, others can endure for
a few days, depending upon the strength of their vital body.

When the Ego has left the vital body, the
latter gravitates back to the dense body, remaining hovering above the grave,
decaying as the dense body does, and it is indeed a noisome sight to the
clairvoyant to pass through a cemetery and behold all those vital bodies whose
state of decay clearly indicates the state of decomposition of the remains in
the grave. If there were more clairvoyants, incineration would soon be adopted
as a measure of protection to our feelings, if not for sanitary reasons.

As the interest and belief in a life after
death becomes more universal, the necessity for a scientific method for the care
of those who are passing into the higher life will be impressed upon the people,
and we shall then have nurses, doctors, and ministers who are versed in the
science of death as well as in the science of birth. The Spirit will then be
surrounded by love and peace at the time of passing. It will also have a deeper
and clearer record with which to begin its life work in its new state.

When the Ego comes into the Physical World,
it is in one sense a cause for rejoicing, as we rejoice at the birth of a child,
for this world affords us experience and material for soul growth. Looking at if
from another point of view, however, when the Ego comes into this world and
enters the prison house of the dense body, it is in the most limited condition
imaginable, and to rejoice at the time the child is born and lament when it is
liberated by death, is in reality analogous to rejoicing when a friend is put in
jail and giving way to hysterical lamentation when he is liberated.

Furthermore, our duties to our dear ones who
have passed away from the earth life are not ended when they have severed the
physical ties. We have a responsibility to them beyond the grave. Our attitude
after the death of our loved ones continues to affect them, for they do not
usually leave their accustomed places right away. Many stay in or near the home
for a number of months after they have left the body and can feel conditions
there even more keenly than when in earth life. If we sigh, mourn, and groan for
them we transfer to them the gloom we ourselves carry about us or else we bind
them to home in efforts to cheer us. In either case we are a hindrance and a
stumbling black in the way of their spiritual progress, and while this may be
forgiven in those who are ignorant of the facts concerning life and death,
people who have studied the Rosicrucian Philosophy or kindred teachings are
incurring a very grave responsibility when they indulge in such practices.

We are well aware that custom used to demand
the wearing of mourning and that people were not considered respectable if they
did not put on a sable garb as a token of their grief. Fortunately, times are
changing and a more enlightened view is being taken of the matter. The
transition to the other world is quite serious enough in itself, involving as it
does a process of adjustment to strange conditions all around, and the passing
spirit is further hampered by the sorrow and anguish of the dear ones whom it
continues to see about itself, when it finds them surrounded by a cloud of black
gloom, clothed in garments of the same color and nursing their sorrow for months
or years, the effect cannot be anything but depressing.

How much better the attitude of those who
have learned the Rosicrucian Teachings and have taken them to heart. Their
attitude is cheerful, helpful, hopeful, and encouraging. The selfish grief at
the loss is suppressed in order that the passing spirit may receive all the
encouragement possible. Usually the survivors in the family dress in white at
the funeral and a cheerful, genial spirit prevails throughout. The thought of
the survivors is not, "What shall I do now that I have lost him? All the
world seems empty for me." It is, "I hope that he may find himself
rights under the new conditions as quickly as possible and that he will not
grieve at the thought of leaving us behind." We pray earnestly for his
welfare and that he may learn the lessons of this life thoroughly in his
experiences in Purgatory and the First Heaven.

Thus, by the good will, intelligence,
unselfishness, and love of the remaining friends the passing Spirit is enabled
to enter the new conditions under much more favorable circumstances, and we
cannot do better than to spread this teaching as widely as possible. It is our
loss if we are blind to the superphysical realms, but to all who will take the
trouble to awaken their latent faculties, the opening of the proper sense is but
a matter of time. When that time comes we shall see the so-called
"dead" are all about us, and that, in fact, "there is no
death," as John McCreery says in the following beautiful poem:

There is no death. The stars go down
To rise upon another shore,
And bright in heaven's jeweled crown
They shine forevermore.
There is no death. The forest leaves
Convert to life the viewless air;
The rocks disorganize to feed
The hungry moss they bear.
There is no death. The dust we tread
Shall change beneath the summer showers
To golden grain or mellow fruit,
Or rainbow-tinted flowers.
There is no death. The leaves may fall,
The flowers may fade and pass away--
They only wait through wintry hours
The warm, sweet breath of May.
There is no death, although we grieve
When beautiful familiar forms
That we have learned to love are torn
From our embracing arms.
Although with bowed and breaking heart,
With sable garb and silent tread
We bear their senseless dust to rest
And say that they are dead--
They are not dead. They have but passed
Beyond the mists that blind us here
Into the new and larger life
Of that serener sphere.
They have but dropped their robe of clay
To put a shining raiment on;
They have not wandered far away,
They are not 'lost' or 'gone.'
Though unseen to the mortal eye,
They still are here and love us yet;
The dear ones they have left behind
They never do forget.
Sometimes upon our fevered brow
We feel their touch, a breath of balm;
Our spirit sees them, and our hearts
Grow comforted and calm.
Yes, even near us, though unseen,
Our dear, immortal spirits tread--
For all God's boundless Universe
Is Life--there are no dead.